this post was submitted on 01 Sep 2024
279 points (95.4% liked)

Ask Lemmy

26264 readers
1787 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

No, I don't want to buy one. This came out of a discussion about my brother, who is so much weirder than me if you can believe it, who owns a real human skull.

I don't know how he got it. I don't know where he got it from, maybe this company, more importantly, I don't know why he would want such a thing. He is not a scientist, he works in IT. He did get an MFA in theater, wanted to be a professional theater director and loves Shakespeare, I can't believe the reason was because he wanted Hamlet to be super authentic.

We're not all that close, so it really hasn't come up in conversation. I only know about it because he posted elsewhere a while back that he was on a Zoom meeting at work and he showed it off and couldn't understand why everyone stopped laughing and got silent. So obviously he thinks it's cool to own it.

It used to be a person. I'm an atheist and I don't believe in an afterlife, but that's just basic disrespect.

Anyway... how can you ethically source a skull and then sell it on the open market?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] DrBob@lemmy.ca 95 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

I used to teach anatomy 20+ years ago. Sadly many of the skulls are sourced from the poorest people in impoverished countries. Companies pay a death benefit to the families or to the individual and then "harvest" the skull after death. They used to be priced based on the number of teeth and the presence of mandibular/maxillary degeneration. The highest priced skulls would come from donors and would have all their teeth.

Here's a link to the UCLA scandal if you want to get a feeling for how scummy the entire industry is

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 27 points 2 weeks ago

That's the sort of thing I was thinking, unfortunately.

[–] li10@feddit.uk 15 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

So is there a guy that has to chop someone’s head off, strip all the flesh and then scoop the brain out??

I’m kinda hoping there’s an acid dip they do instead, cause that would be an awful job…

[–] DrBob@lemmy.ca 32 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

Most places to do it with insects. Sometimes they just leave them out but any organization with volume will use beetles.

[–] IronKrill@lemmy.ca 9 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] DrBob@lemmy.ca 8 points 2 weeks ago

Lol. Welcome to the underbelly of comparative anatomy.

[–] recklessengagement@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

That is fascinating - thank you for taking the time to share :)

[–] Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 weeks ago

Reminds me of the mummy

[–] LiveLM@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 weeks ago

Holy shit, this has to be one of the most insane things I've ever learned

[–] ouRKaoS@lemmy.today 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

There's probably someone else somewhere who has a "real human brain in a jar", a couple people with "new" kidneys, corneas, a liver...

Gotta maximize profits!

😞

[–] Bgugi@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Okay... But... Outside of conflicts of interest, wouldn't those families be worse off without this unconventional life insurance policy?

[–] DrBob@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Are they any better off with it? I don't the current rates but it used to be around a few pounds of rice. It's desperation rates for desperate people.

[–] Bgugi@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

If they aren't better off, why wouldn't they just say no?

[–] DrBob@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 weeks ago

Dude. Seriously?